Elon Musk has been roundly criticized for sharing a meme early Wednesday morning that mocks LGBTQ+ rights, Black Lives Matter, vaccines, feminism, media, Islam, and Planned Parenthood.
The “They Brainwashed You” meme that Musk shared depicts two restroom icons. One is shown with various social justice and religious iconography as well as organization and company logos while wearing a face mask and injected with several shots. A Progress Pride flag is behind the icon.
A quote bubble above the icon reads, “They brainwashed you.”
The other restroom icon holds an American flag and has a blonde-haired white man’s face. The quote bubble above it reads, “Really?”
Musk, who became the owner of Twitter in October and is still CEO of Tesla, shared the meme and commented, “I’m not brainwashed!!”
\u201cI\u2019m not brainwashed!!\u201d— Elon Musk (@Elon Musk) 1672211475
Twitter users condemned the meme and said it just furthers anti-LGBTQ+ hate on the platform.
Even though Musk has said hate speech has decreased on the platform since he bought it and became the sole owner of it, several organizations have found the opposite in many cases.
Media Matters found there had been an uptick of anti-LGBTQ+ hate speech on Twitter by more than 1000 percent, PinkNews notes.
The Center for Countering Digital Hate found the daily use of the n-word under Musk is triple the 2022 average and the use of slurs against gay men and trans persons are up 58 percent and 62 percent, respectively.
Alejandra Caraballo, a clinical instructor at Harvard Law School, posted on Twitter connecting Musk’s tweet to an interview on Fox Nation with Libs of TikTok’s Chaya Raichik. In the interview, Riachik called the LGBTQ+ community a “cult” that brainwashed people.
“I wonder where he got the idea about saying LGBTQ people are brainwashed,” Caraballo wrote.
\u201cI wonder where he got the idea about saying LGBTQ people are brainwashed.\u201d— Alejandra Caraballo (@Alejandra Caraballo) 1672215690
Activist Nina Turner wrote, “Anti-LGBTQ+, Anti-Black, Anti-Muslim, Anti-vax, Anti-choice. All in one meme!”
\u201cAnti-LGBTQ+\nAnti-Black\nAnti-Muslim\nAnti-vax\nAnti-choice\n\nAll in one meme!\u201d— Nina Turner (@Nina Turner) 1672211727
Journalist Thor Benson magnified part of the image that listed Facebook, Tumblr, and, yes, even Twitter.
\u201c@elonmusk\u201d— Elon Musk (@Elon Musk) 1672211475
Other users pointed to the continued devaluation of Tesla stock.
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